Mattis Wanted Congressional Approval for Syria Attack, Trump Said No

According to the New York Times, US officials said that ahead of Friday’s US-led attack on Syria, Defense Secretary James Mattis urged the president to get Congressional approval first. Trump overruled this, however, and officials say he wanted a “rapid” response.

Officials went on to say that Trump was worried about being seen not to follow through on his “get ready” Tweet about the attack. Mattis argued about the risk of a “wider war” with Russia. The compromise was the Friday attack, which was more limited than some hawks were expecting.

This may explain the different tone of the two different Friday night announcements. President Trump was much more gung-ho about it being a “sustained” operation, while Mattis was very clear it was “a one-shot deal.”

It again shows a divide between Trump and Mattis on key foreign policy issues. It is particularly huge in this case because it reveals an active Defense Secretary wanting Congressional authorization for an overseas strike.

That’s huge, because recent administrations have been very dismissive of the idea they’d need Congressional authority. Congress, however, clearly has never authorized a strike against the Syrian government.

This may bolster Congressional interest in replacing the old Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) with one that’s more limited, and explicitly limited. Clearly, there is a need to establish the limits beforehand, as the Syria strike showed.

Of course, the current AUMF under debate doesn’t offer such limitations. Instead, it seeks to provide the illusion of limitations with an artificial four-year renewal clause. The lack of AUMF for attacking Syria, however, combined with attacking Syria, may force a serious rethink of this language. If Congress is to retain warmaking powers in any serious form, they must be able to make clear who the US is not at war with.

Was “Bonkers” Bolton confirmed by the Senate? If not, he can only be “Acting National Security Adviser”. There’s no info on the Senate acting on Bolton’s nomination as of yet. His nomination can very well be rejected, since he’s too extreme for this very important job. The NSA position requires that the person holding it must be stable and able to give the POTUS good advice. “Bonkers” Bolton isn’t the right person for this job. Period.
We must remember that during G. W. Bush’s last term as POTUS, “Bonkers” Bolton was US Ambassador to the UN. Dubya was compelled to fire him, due to his erratic behavior, and replace him with Colin Powell.
If Bolton couldn’t perform his duties as Ambassador to the UN in a reasonable manner, how on earth can he handle this job, which entails a lot more responsibilities? He’s just too unstable.

Trump looked very scared while standing next to his wife and waiting for the Japan PM and his wife, maybe because of the Cohn search warrants?,,, or was he afraid some idiot would yell out a question about porn “star” Stormy?

All in all I think Trump may soon throw in the towel, he has been pummeled like no one in history and has proven to me, a backer, that he does not have what it takes to be POTUS. But, I may be wrong.

Not even close, even among American presidents. When 13 states secede from the Union over his election to the presidency and fight a four-year war at a cost of 500k-1 million lives to stay out, then we can talk about who had it rougher.

Thomas, I view Lincoln with disdain, he brought his problems upon himself and he responded by violating the Constitution and Bill Of Rights while being responsible for some 700,000 deaths, while keeping his own family out of the fray. Lincoln was a monster and deserves no praise!

Nonsense. He explicitly told the South that he would not challenge slavery where it already existed, but that wasn’t good enough. The deep south wanted to maintain its political hegemony. When they realized that was over, they seceded anyway, and when the border states didn’t immediately follow, they decided to force the issue by bombarding Sumter.

A couple months later, they decided to force the issue with neutral Kentucky by invading that state, with disastrous results when Kentucky’s governor asked for and got Federal protection.

Bill, thanks for your opinion, we will just disagree. You know my stance and I know yours, but in the middle is 700,000 dead Americans and a large part of the country left in ruins because one side wanted to be free of the other.

I hope you are wrong .. King David the man after Gods own heart committed a terrible crime . I just hope Trumps wife will stand by him , after all Trump is only a mortal man . I don’t think Trump will back down and run . Isn’t strange that we know the women Trump may have played with 10 to 20 years ago . And we never heard of one girl Obama ever dated or even held hands with . No one knew any thing , no one asked anything ? not even his real name ? Was it Barry Soweto ? Where and when did he change his name ? Is it legal to go by other names .

eric, you are very correct! We will have to just wait and see what happens. Remember millions backed hillary for POTUS and she worshiped at the alter of abortion, murder of babies!! (So did Obama) What is worse?

Wars, like Madelin Albright? Babies in the mothers womb, that feel agony and pain when ripped out or burned out of the womb by a doctor or nurse for profit, and allowed by a deceived ‘mother.’ Wars, are you really that cold and cruel, or just a troll, I hope the latter. 🙁

“I don’t think Trump will back down and run”. Seriously, why do you people continue to believe Donald Trump is some kind of common man’s pacifist? He never has been and never will be. It is extremely frustrating to see otherwise sensible people get so roped into the fake narratives with no connection to reality. He should be impeached immediately. There is no hope for this country. A nation of gullible idiots is all we are.

Trump was smart in not asking when Obama asked to attack Syria congress said no . Trump colluded with Putin . This was another fake false flag attack designed to satisfy the war hawks , keep the deep state happy and raise Trumps popularity as a tough guy .

The “hostage” assessment is bunk. The last vestiges of belief perseverance dies hard it seems. President con-man simply painted himself into a corner with his usual vacuous braggadocio and had to prove his manhood accordingly…with a neutered strike that likely did less than nothing. I’m growing very tired of apologists and sycophants who either enable him or spew bafflegab to try and convince others that he is some “stable genius”. The same man who said he would never telegraph future strategy of the military proceeds to warn Syria/Russia that “smart”, flying things were coming soon. Good grief…this crap ain’t even funny anymore.

The twittering Trump then had to rush quickly to ensure that the OCPW did not get to Douma and show there was a false flag first. Mission accomplished, and the F/UK/US gang keep arguing that it was vitally needed to bomb the research buildings “producing CWs” with, of course, no release of dangerous gas.

Ordinarily it’s FUKZUS, but Z did not participate in the early Saturday am attacks, though it did attack the T-4 airbase earlier in the week and there were reports it tried again after the Sat am attacks.